When it comes to living room design, a flattering color palette is one of the first things you need to nail down. It will likely drive the whole design scheme and set the mood for years to come.
Plus, your living room is probably the most-used room in the house, so choosing colors that make you look forward to spending time in it is a must!
The easiest way to choose the best interior paint colors is to start with the colors you love. When you start with the colors you love, you are not bound by traditional color schemes for a particular decorating style. With your favorite color as your base color, you can use it to create a color scheme around it. Your favorite colors can be the perfect inspiration for your new color palette for the whole home.
Magazines and catalogs have always been the staple of decorating inspiration. You have access to thousands of pages of inspiration on the internet. Retailer sites can be inspiring with their room vignettes, and paint brands can also show you ways to use color in your home. Social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram offer color inspiration that is refreshed in real-time. Pinterest is great for creating inspiration boards for your favorite ideas, so you can keep all your ideas in one spot.
“Always remember that while there are thousands of paint chips at the store, there are only seven colors in the paint spectrum,” says Krims, referring to red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (what Color Theory 101 students are often taught to remember by the mnemonic device, “Roy G. Biv”). “eliminating a couple even before you go to the paint store is strongly suggested.”
Here’s a sure-fire 4 step method for creating a color scheme:
1. Start by selecting three colors from an existing object in your home. “Take a pillow from the family-room sofa, your favorite tie or scarf, or a painting—anything that conveys comfort or has an emotional connection for you—and take that object to the paint store,” says Krims. “Find three sample strips with those colors, and you instantly have 15 to 18 colors you can use, since each sample strip typically contains six paint colors.”
2. The next step is to choose one of the three paint colors as your wall color and to save the other two to be used around the room in fabric or furnishings.
3. To choose the colors for adjacent rooms, take the same original three color sample strips and select another color.
4. Finally, choose a fourth color that can be used as an accent: “Splash a little of that color into every room of the house—by way of a pillow or plate or artwork. It makes a connection between the spaces,” Krims says.
From all the colors, Army Green is one color that worth a try.
A moody shade of army green paint complements the mahogany wood details in this living room, while the sunny yellow sofa and pink layered rugs brighten up the space. It will be perfect.
